Box Score

DAVIS, Calif. -- Senior right-hander Max Cordy scattered five hits over six innings for his second win of the year, and UC Davis scored all the runs it would need in the first two innings, as the Aggies remained unbeaten with a 4-1 win over Santa Clara in its home opener on Tuesday at Dobbins Stadium.

"We battled a little bit," Head Coach Matt Vaughn said. "We had a long weekend on the road, but I think the guys came out, didn't let that get to them, and now we're just playing the game."

UC Davis improved to 3-0-1 overall with the win behind the stellar pitching of Cordy (2-0) and junior right-hander Nat Hamby, who retired all nine hitters he faced over a perfect three innings to nail down his first career save. Cordy went six innings, allowing just one run while striking out five.

The four-game unbeaten streak to start the year is the best for an Aggies team since the 1985 squad opened 4-0 en route to a 30-19 record.

"We had some pretty good guys on the mound today that gave us a chance to win," Vaughn said. "Max was outstanding. His pitches were high-quality and, if we make a couple plays early, he's got a chance to finish that game.

"With Hamby, to me, the guy you saw on the mound today was the guy we recruited. He's given up lead-off walks in his first inning the last two outings and, today, he got that first guy and he just rolled from there."

Freshman Eric Lex (0-1) suffered the loss for the Broncos, allowing three earned on six hits and walking three over four innings. The Santa Clara bullpen, however, did its job, keeping the Broncos in the game with four innings of scoreless relief, allowing just three walks and striking out five.

The Aggies sent nine batters to the plate in the opening inning against Lex, scoring three runs on four hits. Senior Kevin Barker, who finished 2-for-4 for his second multi-hit game of the season, singled to lead off the inning, moved to second on a ground ball and stole third. After a walk to Tanner Bily, senior Nick Lynch lofted a ball to deep right field that reached the fence, plating two runs for a 2-0 UC Davis lead.

Spencer Henderson scooted a ground ball through the right side later in the inning for a 3-0 lead and the Aggies added another in the second as freshman Alex Aguiar plated Tino Lipson with his first career hit in his first career at-bat, making it 4-0 after two innings.

Santa Clara got one of the runs back in the third on an infield single by Jose Vizcaino, Jr., but could not manage anything else, standing five runners on base -- but only one of those in scoring position -- for the rest of the game, and seven in the contest overall.

Senior outfielder Austin March singled in the opening inning to extend his hitting streak to four games to start the season, while March, Bily, Barker, and Izaak Silva, have reached base safely in all four games. Barker stole a pair of bases on the day, and is 6-for-8 in the category this season -- just one shy of his total (7-for-14) from all of last season.

UC Davis returns to the diamond for its first series at Dobbins Stadium this season, hosting Gonzaga for four games this weekend. The series opens on Friday (Feb. 20) at 2 p.m., with a doubleheader following on Saturday (Feb. 21) at 11 a.m., and the single-game series finale on Sunday (Feb. 22) at 1 p.m.

UC Davis 4, Santa Clara 1 (Feb 17, 2015 at Davis, Calif.)
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Santa Clara......... 001 000 000 - 1 5 1 (1-3)
UC Davis............ 310 000 00X - 4 6 1 (3-0-1)
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Pitchers: Santa Clara - LEX, Eric; SEEVER, Jason(5); WHITE, Mitchell(7); GEORGE, Kevin(8); INOUYE, Josh(8) and FRANKFORT, Braden. UC Davis - Cordy, Max; Hamby, Nat(7) and Silva, Izaak.
Win-Cordy, Max(2-0) Save-Hamby, Nat(1) Loss-LEX, Eric(0-1) T-2:35 A-210
Weather: Opening Day sunshine, 67 deg.